Women in UK ‘seldom’ told drug used in surgery can impede contraception

A drug commonly used in anaesthesia may make contraceptives less effective and put women at risk of an abortion, according to doctors.

Administered at the end of surgery, sugammadex reverses the action of drugs given earlier in the procedure to relax the patient's muscles. The drug interacts with the hormones progesterone and estradiol and may affect the effectiveness of contraceptives.

In the UK, robust methods for identifying at-risk patients and notifying them of the associated risk of contraceptive failures are not common.

The findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care.

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Doctors need to tell women of child-bearing age about the drug, according to current guidance. Women taking oral contraceptives should be advised to follow the missed pill advice in the leaflet that comes with their contraceptives, and those using other types of contraceptives should be advised to use an additional non-hormonal means of contraception for seven days.

There was no record in the medical notes of patients that they had been told about the risks of contraceptive failure due to sugammadex.

The doctors at the department of anaesthesiology at University College London asked an anaesthesiologists at their hospital trust about their use of the drug.

Not a single one of the 48 women who should have been given advice on the risks had a record of it in their medical notes. According to the survey, 70% of the annesthesiologists said they did not talk to patients who received the drug.

One of the leaders of the study said they expect the results to be similar elsewhere in the UK.

Dr. Passi said that it was concerning that patients were not informed of the risk of contraceptive failure. Ensuring that women are aware that they may increase their risk of unwanted pregnancies if they take sugammadex is a priority.

There is only one drug known to have such an effect on the brain. Doctors at the University College London have created patient information leaflets and letters and programmed their electronic patient record system to identify at-risk patients.

New research being presented at the Euroanaesthesia conference shows that body mass index and weight are related to outcomes after surgery.

According to the study by Dr Michael Margarson from St Richard's Hospital, patients with the highest weight and body mass index are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit.